The banning of opera performances during Lent in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Rome meant that composers had to turn their attention to biblical subjects. However there is no sense that either composer or librettist felt at all limited in their subject matter, judging from the extraordinarily inventive oratorios that were produced during this time. Scarlatti’s work tells the dramatic story of David and Goliath. Whilst the biblical account relays the story in a few sentences, the anonymous librettist of Davidis pugna et victoria expands upon these to create an extensive libretto, with the characters fully developed and explored.

Shirley Scott - Queen of the Organ (1964) {Impulse! GRD-123 rel 1993}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 419 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
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© 1964, 1993 Impulse! / MCA / GRP | GRD-123
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Organ

This CD reissue brings back all of the music previously put out on the two-LP set The Great Live Sessions with the exception of one number ("Shirley's Shuffle") left out due to lack of space; with over 70 minutes of music, one cannot complain too much about the omission. Overall, this is a pretty definitive live set featuring organist Shirley Scott, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Otis "Candy" Finch, one of the great soul-jazz combos of the 1960s.

Charlie Parker - Bird's Eyes: Last Unissued, Vol. 25 (1950, 1953) {Philology W 855.2 rel 1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 348 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 180 Mb
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© 1950, 1953, 1999 Philology | W 855.2
Jazz / Bop / Bebop / Saxophone

Charlie Parker was a legendary Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist who, with Dizzy Gillespie, invented the musical style called bop or bebop. Charlie Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas. From 1935 to 1939, he played the Missouri nightclub scene with local jazz and blues bands. In 1945 he led his own group while performing with Dizzy Gillespie on the side. Together they invented bebop. In 1949, Parker made his European debut, giving his last performance several years later. He died a week later on March 12, 1955, in New York City.

Roland Kayn - Spectral (2021) {Reiger-records-reeks}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 556 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 296 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2021 Reiger-records-reeks
Experimental / Modern Classical / Musique concrète / Electroacoustic / Electronic

The cloudy, sustained tones of ‘Spectral’ find Kayn in territory almost as weightless as that of ‘A Pan-Air Music’. In its opening minutes, dense flute-like timbres amass in an echoing plane of sound reminiscent at times of Luc Ferrari’s most disembodied audio surrealism. But this is no derivative (nor pastiche), as Kayn’s time spent amid the Staaplaat racks is soon also in evidence. As the work progresses, we find him locating, digesting – and perhaps even repurposing – the spiritual heirs of his earlier, uniquely groundbreaking work.

Reger wrote the Latin Requiem in 1914 in remembrance of soldiers fallen in the 1st World War - but after completing approx 30 minutes of music, was talked out of completing it by a well meaning but entirely misguided musical associate. What remains is a massive, dense, hugely impressive torso of highly chromatic, late Romantic choral/soloists/orchestral music of the first order. Highly recommended.

Sitra Ahra is the fourteenth full-length musical album by Therion released on 17 September 2010 in Europe, and 26 October 2010 in North America. It is the first studio release since Gothic Kabbalah in 2007…

Leon Thomas & Oliver Nelson - In Berlin (1970) {RCA Victor 09026638772 rel 2002}
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© 1970, 2002 Flying Dutchman / Bluebird / RCA Victor / BMG | 09026638772
Jazz / Post Bop / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Soul Jazz

"Leon Thomas in Berlin" is an excellent example of the work of this almost forgotten vocalist. Thomas was very much a maverick in terms of his singing style, his use of the yodel and other effects turned his voice very much into another frontline musical instrument in much the same manner as scat was used by earlier singers . The lasting impression given by this is of a highly Afro - American form of the idiom which was much in fashion in the late 60's and early 70's. In many ways it is a great pity that this vibrant music has fallen so far from grace to be replaced by the mainstream conservatism that is so omni-present in a great deal of the performances which define Jazz at the present time.

SWANS have announced a remastered reissue of Children of God on 13 November 2020 via Mute / Young God Records. The album, originally released on Product Inc. (a subsidiary of Mute) in 1987 will be available on vinyl in its original packaging for the first time since that release and both the CD and vinyl issues will include the live album, Feel Good Now, recorded on the 1987 Children of God European tour.

Working in 17th-century Venice soon after the worlds first public opera houses opened there, composer Francesco Cavalli had no tradition to follow. He gave his fertile imagination free rein, tinkering with the brand-new art form to create the lively Venetian style of opera, with its melodious arias, sprightly dance rhythms, free-wheeling mythological or historical plots and generous dollops of comedy. Like most of Cavallis operas, Ilpermestra wasnt performed between the late 17th century and recent years. Ilpermestra was written on the occasion of the birth of King Philip IV of Spains first son in 1658. It was one of the most magnificent operas to have ever been staged. This is the world premiere recording of the opera, made after a live stage performance in Utrecht in 2006.

Songs for the New Depression is the third studio album by American female singer Bette Midler, released in early 1976 on the Atlantic Records label. Notable for a duet with Bob Dylan on "Buckets of Rain" and an excellent version of Tom Waits's "Shiver Me Timbers."

Virtuosic ‘70s rock guitar ruminations encounter an irrefutable mixture of astonishing modern elements and classic psychedelic / progressive rock trademarks: Icelandic frontrunners THE VINTAGE CARAVAN return with their fifth studio album, Monuments, out April 16, 2021 via Napalm Records.